You remember Eddie Haskell from Leave It To Beaver, don’t you? Played by Ken Osmond, Eddie always behaved very politely in front of Beaver and brother Wally’s parents, June and Ward Cleaver, but revealed his true, punky, trouble-maker self in the absence of authority figures.

Well, Eddie Haskell could save the day for you, because instead of describing someone’s constantly changing behavior with carefully worded dialog to avoid seeming to be a whiner, you can instead describe the behavior by saying that person is Eddie Haskell.

Do you know someone who is polite, cooperative, and seemingly would go to the ends of the Earth for you, but only in front of the boss? Then, when the boss is not around, behaves differently?

Well, when explaining to the boss why things are not going as planned, because the seemingly cooperative person really isn’t, you can say you are working with Eddie Haskell. Eddie’s funny image will hit home, before your boss rejects your argument because you are criticizing someone.

Besides, for those who do not follow science fiction, comparing someone’s behavior to Eddie Haskell is easier than explaining the behavior is more like the HAL 9000.

So, for those of you who do not see the value of 1950s/1960s sitcoms, I’ve found another reason to point out why they are helpful.